Hi all,
I picked up a '05 Hemi Durango almost a year ago for my wife and we love it. It's her car that she drives daily to work and occasionally we pull our 26' sport boat during the summer months (6,100lbs including trailer) What a great tow vehicle!
But I'm a little surprised at the limited recommended interval for oil change (3000 miles w/no extension for light duty highway driving) but mostly about the 30,000 suggested spark plug change interval. Now I understand if I'm towing the boat I need to change the oil sooner, but why with light duty use during the off season? Most other vehicles we've owned have a 5,000 up to 7,500 mile oil change recommendation for a mostly highway driven vehicle.

But my main question is can anyone shed some light on why so soon for plugs?

Most newer model vehicles (as I consider this one a newer model) are 100,000 miles with good quality platinum plugs. Is there something specific to this vehicle electronics or ecm controls that requires plugs this often? What are you guys doing for plug changes? I haven't done a change yet but it looks like it's going to be a bit**!!

And yes, most people will say 3000 miles for an oil change is optimal but with advanced oil technology and our typical use (25 miles 1-way to work mostly highway driving) I'm a little curious why there isn't an extended oil change interval listed/offered in the owners manual.

Thanks for any insite you can provide. And please don't flame me on my oil change beliefs. Like I said, almost everything we do is long-distance highway miles in our rural area.
Jeff.

2005 Hemi Durango 119,000 miles.
1996 Intrepid 3.2 (259,000 miles. regular oil changes every 10,000 miles and we're original owners) my current daily driver, 55 miles a day. God I love this car!

 

My wife's LTZ Suburban goes at least 5,000 miles between oil changes with full synthetic. I change the oil and filters in my Coronets twice a year and they get about a thousand miles a year with full synthetic Royal Purple. I would do what you feel comfortable and do not listen to the oil companies and their intervals as they only want your money. I would only listen to the manual for the warranty period and keep the receipts incase of a claim. Other than that, 5,000 miles on a good synthetic is sufficient.
FF

 

Because the Bosch Nickel Yttrium plugs need to be replace every 30k. If you were using the Bosch Iridium plugs then you would replace them at 100k. DO NOT INTERCHANGE

 

I'm assuming you mean don't mix the 2 types at the same time. So I'd be good to replace them with the Iridium plugs and forget them for the next 100K?

That's what I was wanting to hear. Thanks!

 

No, From what you were writing you needed to know why the plugs needed to be replace every 30k. You can not use the Iridium plugs in your 5.7 engine. You can only use the Nickel Yttrium plugs.

 

I used champion Iridium in my 5.7 liter for 60,000 miles without any problems.
FF

 

Thank you , Mark. I was just posting what I know. So if you are using the Iridium plugs, by all means go ahead and use the Iridium plugs. Now I know because some members are using these plugs.

 

I think the 4.7 was more temperamental with their plugs. I had ported heads with a tuner so that may have changed the temperature range for the plugs.

 

I am not sure that longer lasting plugs are the answer. My experience with the 5.7 liter engine's plugs and coils has been pretty annoying. I live in a wet and salty climate and I've found that the plugs and coils need to be inspected every 15,000 miles because of corrosion. Especially those near the back of the engine are especially likely to become corroded and need replacement. I wondered why, so I did some searching on the Internet. I found similar complaints, supposedly caused by water running off the windshield and onto the engine. My mechanic tested this theory with a garden hose. He found water going down onto the back of the engine from around the wipers, cracks in the water tray, and loose weatherstripping. He caulked around the wipers, replaced the plastic tray and glued down the black weatherstrip... but there isn't much more that can be done. Even though its expensive, check those sparks and coils.